The Cruciatus
by yourbcky
Summary: Lily Evans doesn't scare easily. Even when under the Cruciatus.


**I'm splitting To Die by Your Side up into oneshots, so this isn't anything new. Written to prompt of 'James finds Lily during rounds sobbing on the floor after being Crucio'd during her rounds. Maybe Lily's POV, And all she could think of was James so she could think of safety?' from come-watchthestars on tumblr. But also written for OTP BC with 'Vicious'/If You Dare with 'Skirmish'. I have no idea what was going on with the formatting there, sorry.**

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"Look here, boys," Mulciber sneered, pushing off of the wall he'd been leaning on and strutting down the corridor. Avery, Wilkes and Rosier trailed after him, malicious grins spreading across their faces when they realised that she was alone.

Straightening her back, Lily stood her ground, not batting an eye when they stopped a few paces in front of her and attempted to look threatening. "The Mudblood thinks she has a right to be here." As they sniggered amongst themselves, she silently fingered her wand, her brain providing her with so many hand movements and Latin phrases, they all blurred into one.

"Seeing as it's after curfew, and I'm a Prefect, I think you'll find that I do have a right to be here. More than any of you, I dare say." She noticed Wilkes and Rosier reaching inside their robes for their wands, and silently cursed the fact that it was the night after a full moon. Remus wasn't up to much of anything in the days leading up to and following one, meaning Lily had been stuck with Emmaline Vance as a patrol partner. Whilst a nice girl, she had the weakest bladder Lily had ever heard of and was constantly going for toilet breaks.

Refusing to be intimidated by a group of narcissistic twats whose collective IQ was no higher than the pond life in the lake, Lily looked their ring leader right in the eye. "I'd tell them to put their wands away, if I were you. We wouldn't want you getting into any more trouble than is absolutely necessary, now would we? How does detention with Filch sound, for being out after hours?" She smiled sweetly, seemingly unaffected when Mulciber loomed forwards, his face mere inches away from hers.

She was vaguely aware of yelling in the distance, her ears picking a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sirius' cursing at someone. She didn't dwell on it too much though; Mulciber and his collection of Slytherin scum had been goading her for a while. Death threats, racial slurs and fairly harmful curses were not uncommon to her and this particular group had been behind most of it.

"I'm not scared of you, Mudblood." Mulciber snarled, moving to grab hold of her by the neck, but before he could blink her wand was out and calmly pointing at his throat, her eyes flashing dangerously at the boys behind him. They backed off, the self-preservation their house was famed for, giving them enough sense not to aggravate her more, and she looked back into cold brown eyes.

"Well, that's your mistake then, isn't it? Because you should be. This Mudblood has outperformed and outranked you since we were first years. So thinking that any of you stand a chance is incredibly idiotic. Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

Snarling again, Mulciber spat at her feet and turned on his heel, stalking down the corridor with his lackeys hurrying after him. Without looking back, he left her with "Watch your back, bitch."

Before she had time to process what he'd meant by that, her body was on fire. She felt her knees give out and she slammed onto the stone floor, her teeth clamped into her bottom lip so she wouldn't scream. It felt like white hot knives were piercing her skin from every angle and she could feel a terrible, excruciating pressure building behind her eyes. Lily wasn't sure how long it lasted, but it felt like hours and the pain was so intense her focus narrowed down, the corridor fading into black and whiter, and then simply stopped existing. She forgot where she was, the only thing she was able to concentrate on was how much it hurt and how much she wanted it to stop.

Then everything stopped. The stone walls of the corridor flooded back into her field of vision, she could feel the floor underneath her and she was uncomfortably aware of the fact she was crying. She managed to force her way over to the wall, drawing her knees up so she could wrap her arms around them and bury her face into the crook of her elbow.

Footsteps thundered down the hall, and although she wasn't really paying them any attention, she could make out that there were at least three people coming towards her. Wondering if it was Mulciber and his gang, she lifted her head, ready to defend herself against whatever they might have planned. Instead, she came face to face with James Potter, who was crouching in front of her, concern etched into his features and a frown pulling at his mouth.

"Evans, we saw what happened." He murmured, reaching a hand out to comfort her and then thinking better of it. Slightly disappointed, Lily sniffed and wiped a hand over her eyes.

"Yeah, it was Sn-" Sirius began, abruptly stopping when James gave him a look over his shoulder. There was a dangerous scowl on his face and the knuckles of his wand hand were white.

"It was a Slytherin." Remus picked up easily, resting a hand on her shoulder gently. "We saw them legging it down the stairs."

"We didn't get here in time." Peter muttered guiltily, kicking at the floor sullenly.

"S'okay." Lily said, placing her own shaky hand on Remus' and giving them a strained smile. "Should of seen it coming, really. Wankers, the lot of them."

Sirius snorted, the tension on his face smoothing out, although his hand was still clamped around his wand. "We've been trying to tell you that for years, Evans."

"Yes, well, your methods of persuasion weren't exactly the best, were they?" She asked lightly, shifting her weight so as to stand up. Immediately, her body betrayed her, and she swayed on her feet. James didn't hesitate this time, his hands shooting out to hold her up by her shoulders.

"Careful, Evans." He said quietly, his eyes studying her closely and she tried to fight down a blush as she looked back. When he was satisfied she was stable enough, his hands sliding down to her forearms. Seemingly without realising he was doing it, his left thumb started rubbing soothing circles into her skin and she shivered slightly. "You okay to move?"

"I think so." She answered. She swayed again, not as much as before, but enough to be noticeable, and she swore. Sirius and Remus looked away to hide their smiles and behind her, she could hear Peter sniggering. James' lips twitched. "Maybe not."

"Look, this is going to take all night if we don't hurry up." Sirius interjected. "Prongs, mate, just hold her up and walk." He took a few exaggerated steps to demonstrate, grinning when Lily snorted.

James looked at her questioningly and she sighed. "For once in his life, Black's right." She ignored his indignant protests, winking at him quickly. "It'll be easier if someone helps me."

"Tell me if I hurt you, okay?" James said, carefully wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing one of hers across his shoulders. Walking like this was much easier, and although her head was still swimming, she was able to concentrate on what was going on around her.

Remus and Peter had gone on ahead, to check there weren't any other students lingering around. Sirius had decided that the pair of them were moving too slowly for his liking, and had wrapped an arm around Lily's waist from the other side, mimicking James' position.

"You're a good looking bird, Evans." He'd said when she'd raised an eyebrow at him. "I'd have to be an idiot to pass up this opportunity."

James had scoffed in annoyance, glaring at his best friend and then begun glaring at the floor. Sirius had winked at her whilst this happened and she'd been hard-pressed not to giggle.

"You're an idiot anyway." She said, affection lacing her tone and James laughed, muttering a 'well, she's not wrong' when Sirius glanced at him. James had a hold of her hand in order to keep her arm in place, and she threaded her fingers through his and squeezed them gently, smiling her thanks at him. "You're all idiots."


End file.
